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Richie Ginther

Racers and fans remember Richie Ginther’s small physique,
his winning smile and his multitude of freckles. His improbable
racing journey took him from wrenching cars in Los Angeles to the
glamorous European Grand Prix circuit.
Richie was a hot rodder when he met road racer Phil Hill in
the early 1950s. Ginther helped Phil prepare his cars and raced
twice himself in an MG with a Ford V-8 60 engine, finishing third
at Pebble Beach in 1951. He then spent two years in Korea as a
helicopter mechanic.
After his return, Phil was driving for John von Neumann and
Richie continued to help with Phil’s car preparation after his
day job. Richie raced an Austin Healey in 1955, but then, his free
labor was rewarded with employment and drives in von Neumann’s
Porsches and Ferraris.
By the late 1950s, Ginther was winning races in Ferraris
like the inaugural at Riverside in 1957 and the 1959 Kiwanis Grand
Prix at the same track. The factory took notice when Ginther won
the GT class at Sebring in 1959 and he joined the Ferrari team as
a Grand Prix driver in 1960, finishing his season with a 2nd in
the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
When Ferrari was testing their first rear-engine sports car
in 1961 at Monza, the new car had handling problems. Ginther’s
aircraft experience led to a suggestion that a strip of metal be
welded across the bodywork at the rear of the car. The fix worked,
and the concept of the spoiler had its first application on a race
car.
That same year, Richie set fastest lap at the Monte Carlo
Grand Prix and finished second to Stirling Moss in what many
regard as Moss’s greatest race. In 1962, Richie moved to BRM,
where he finished second in the World Championship. During the 60s
he was involved in the development stages of both the Rover-BRM
turbine effort at Le Mans and the earliest days of the Ford GT 40
program.
By 1965 Richie was at Honda where made history when he won
the Mexican Grand Prix. It was the first GP victory for Ginther,
Honda and Goodyear.
After another year at Honda, Richie joined Dan Gurney’s
Eagle team, finishing second to Dan at Brands Hatch. After a
failed qualifying attempt at the Indianapolis 500, Richie lay in
his bed at the Speedway Motel and decided racing wasn’t fun any
more.
He continued to be involved, running successful teams for
Porsche and Toyota in U.S. production car racing and entered a 911
in Le Mans in 1971.
After his retirement he lived in Rosarito Beach Mexico,
where he and his wife, Cleo often entertained old racing friends
like John von Neumann, Yoshio Nakamura, Honda’s racing boss from
Richie’s time and Paco Bulto, maker of Bultaco motorcycles.
Richie was an avid off-road rider. Another frequent visitor was
Richie’s son, Brett, who is an M.D.
Richie died suddenly in France while visiting Cleo’s
family in 1989. They had just come from England, where they had
attended a BRM team reunion. Contemporaries remember him as very
quick and a master development engineer. He was one of the
pioneers in U.S. sports car racing and was in the second wave of
Americans to take on the Europeans on their own tracks.
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Paul Goldsmith
When reference is made to Paul Goldsmith winning an event at
Milwaukee, Langhorne or over the sands of Daytona Beach, one has to
specify whether the type of motor sport being discussed involves four
wheels or two. Typically, a person will be inducted into the Hall
of Fame because of his or her accomplishments in one discipline or the
other. In the case of the extremely stoic Goldsmith - a man of
VERY few words - it could be either.
Born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the Michigan-raised Goldsmith
began racing motorcycles as a teenager right after the conclusion of
WWII. He jumped immediately to the rank of AMA "expert"
on Harley–Davidson equipment and raced for the next several years
while continuing to hold down a full-time factory job at Chrysler.
His first major win, in 1952, came most fortuitously on the one-mile
dirt track at the Wisconsin State Fairgrounds (later the famed Milwaukee
Mile), not far from the Harley–Davidson headquarters.
In 1953, he won both the Daytona 200 on the old beach road course
(his Harley prepared partially by the legendary Smokey Yunick), and the
grueling 100-miler at the treacherous Langhorne, Pennsylvania, dirt
track.
From its very beginnings, AMA had typically declared a variety of
seasonal champions based on single events, even its national
championship being awarded to the winner of the Springfield, Illinois,
race. Finally, in 1954, it was decided to award points to the
first few finishers in a series of races, and it was Goldsmith who ended
up second in the standings, beaten only by a West Coast rider he had
befriended and taken under his wing several years earlier, Joe Leonard.
In the meantime, Goldsmith had begun to dabble in stock car
racing, winning a 250-miler at the Detroit Fairgrounds in 1953.
Later teaming with Yunick, he won his first NASCAR race (a 300-miler at
Langhorne) in 1956, and in February 1958, with construction of the
Daytona International Speedway already underway, he won the final NASCAR
Grand National classic over the beach course.
In May of 1958, he achieved a lifelong ambition by driving in the
Indianapolis 500, although his race lasted only three-quarters of a lap.
Driving a Yunick-entered Offenhauser-powered Kurtis–Kraft, he was
caught up in the multi-car accident which took the life of Pat O'Connor.
Goldsmith drove in five more 500s after that, placing fifth in 1959 and
third in 1960. In fact, his race laps were only a fraction of the
number he turned at IMS during his career inasmuch as he had succeeded
Rodger Ward and the late O'Connor as Firestone's chief test driver.
Teamed up since 1959 with Ray Nichels, Goldsmith was to virtually
dominate the USAC stock car circuit with Nichels Engineering Pontiacs,
finishing second in points in 1960, winning in 1961 and 1962, and, after
a dispute with USAC, finishing second again, this time with a Plymouth,
in 1965. During his pair of championship-winning seasons he won
almost half of the races, with 18 wins in 39 starts.
Paul was back and forth with NASCAR for several seasons and
normally ran only selected races. In 1966, however, he did finish
5th in points with three wins and three seconds. In 1969 he
retired to devote full time to his varied business ventures, which were
to include ownership of an airport in northern Indiana, an aviation
engine repair business, some fast food restaurants (since sold) and a
pair of thoroughbred horse ranches (also since sold). Never having
slowed down, he currently has a contract to train commercial pilots for
the Shanghai-based Eastern Airlines concern, and is working with Purdue
University on the development of a fuel-saving hydraulic intensifier.
| Motorsports
Hall of Fame of America |
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Welcome
to the MSHFA Newsletter
In
conjunction with the launch of the all-new www.mshf.com,
the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America welcomes
you to our inaugural newsletter. We
hope you will continue to support the Hall of Fame
in its mission to preserve values of leadership,
innovation, teamwork and competition embodied in
American motorsports. Newsletters will
be providing infomation on our Induction
Ceremony, Inductees and other events. If you
wish to unsubscribe and not receive another
newsletter from MSHFA, please see the link at the
bottom of the page.
Bernstein,
Hobbs, Parker, Richter, Unser Jr., Wheeler and
Weatherly to be inducted into MSHFA
2009
MSHFA Inductee Kenny BernsteinNOVI, MI –
Racing legends Kenny Bernstein, David Hobbs, Scott
Parker, Les Richter, Al Unser, Jr., H.A.
"Humpy" Wheeler and Joe Weatherly will
be inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of
America when the organization stages its annual
induction ceremony on Wednesday, August 12, 2009
at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit.
"Innovation
and competitive spirit are hallmarks of the class
of 2009," says Hall of Fame president Ron
Watson. "These men have exemplified
leadership and teamwork both on the track and in
the front office."
Kenny Bernstein became the King of Speed in 1992
when he was the first NHRA driver to break the 300
MPH barrier. He is a four-time NHRA Funny Car
champion and an IHRA World Funny Car titlist.
Read
more>>
Induction
Sponsorships Available
horsepower
trophyEach year, the biggest corporate names
in racing pledge their sponsorships in honor of
the inductees and in commemoration of their own
automotive heritage. Clearly, it is
financial assistance from our distinguished
sponsors that enable our Induction Ceremonies to
continue to be all that they should be.
Stunning
sculptures of our inductees are currently on
display in the Hall of Fame. Each inductee,
or his family, also receives an original bronze
statuette titled "Horsepower" as a
memento of his enshrinement. Your
participation as an Induction sponsor will
contribute to the honor so richly deserved by all
the inductees on the evening of the ceremony.
Read
more>>
On
Display: The Henry J
Henry
JJames Brooks founded JEB Four Racing along
with sons Jeff, Jamie and John. They first
introduced their unique Henry J dragster to the
NHRA/IHRA circuit and the Super Gas class in 1993.
This one of a kind car was based on the 1951
"Red Baron" that James took down the
track in the 1960's.
While
the 90's version had a professionally built, tube
chassis with a fiber glass body by Bernard Weaver,
it also included an actual Henry J roof to add
authenticity. But it was a rough start, and JEB
Four Racing rolled the original car in the first
season. While searching for a replacement roof,
the team discovered their father's Red Baron in a
junkyard. With the help of Smith's Body Shop
in Fredericksburg, Virginia the car was
recreated... and a brand new chapter opened for
the team.
JEB
Four signed their first major sponsorship deal
with Kaeser Compressors in 1995. Over the next
decade, the team had won the Divisional Races at
both Englishtown and Delaware. Read
more>>
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